Encounters

Rewards

200 GP x3 (600 GP total) for the three jars of wine acquired last session, bought by Stitcher.
Everything Below was taken off the body of one of the Shuronil rogues that assaulted you:

Amber Necklace

Grey Green Cloak

10 GP in a pouch

Shortsword

Longbow

Quiver with 15 arrows

Summary

You make your way through the dirty, narrow streets of Dockside, past the textile mills and fishmongers until you reach a run down tavern. It is three stories tall, narrower on the bottom than the top, so much so that your not sure how it has not toppled over. You enter through the saloon doors, the sound of a mediocre bard playing over the low murmur of a nearly deserted common room.

A large, bald brosmor with a patch over one eye bars your path and asks your names and your business. He lets you pass after a man who sits at a table behind him looks you over and gives an approving nod.

You buy a round of bitter, stale ale. Hrosvir chats up Deidre the bartender trying to find out information on the red bearded man. Cal Branford, not used to such environs struggles to hide his true intentions and attracts the attention of the group of men sitting at the table.

An iron dwarf with his beard burned off approaches you. He is Stitcher and after some small talk and winemongering, you ask him if he knows anything about your quarry. He says he does and will tell you where he is if you do a job for him. He wants you to escort a wagon of goods to the Brosmor Warrens.

You leave immediately, escorting the horse drawn wagon down the narrow streets of Dockside. It is driven by Konig who only speaks Baerkriggan and Ivarrian so broken it is little more than a string of obscenities supported by crude gestures.

You come to a small market where the path is blocked by two vendor’s carts arguing over the validity of their claims on a stall. Cal Branford buys a chicken and a piece of fruit from them both, respectively and manages to convince them to move before it comes to violence.

As you enter the warrens you come to a particularly narrow and deserted alley that puts you all on edge. And for good reason. You spot them. Darting amongst the chimneys and hapharzard crenellations of the warren rooftops are cloaked figures, following your every move.

Astellan, sensing an attack is imminent, has Konig park the wagon out of sight. Focusing his energy he calls forth the elemental power through the aether and creates an illusion of the wagon and its party. As the phantom wagon rolls down the alley you hear a war cry followed by an explosion. Jumping down from the rooftops are fierce scarred elves. The illusion vanishes and they are thrown off guard.

You counter attack, charging down the alley. Cal and Astellan cross blades with them as Hrosvir launches volleys of arcane power. But the scarred elves have left some of their band in reserve. Two more assailants round the corner and attack Hrosvir and Konig. The one assaulting Konig to trying to grab a small chest hidden under the seat of the wagon.

As you dispatch them, the last remaining thief manages to grab the chest and take off down the alley. You pursue and eventually grab him but not before destroying a chicken cart and attracting the attention of the city guards. He drops the chest and it bursts open revealing a clutch of basilisk eggs. The Shuronii wanted desperately to retrieve them. The scarred elves are fierce defenders of nature, but this level of zealotry is unlike them.

Konig is very pleased when you return with the eggs and an elven captive. You deliver the goods to a Brosmor medicine man (basilisk eggs are thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac) and return to the Old Goat.

Stitcher is true to his word and tells you where Marcellus is. He has him chained up in the root cellar where he spends his days as his prize alchemist. Stitcher hates the man and would have killed him long ago if he wasn’t so useful to him.

You meet with Marcellus. He tells you much about what happened the night of Maddias’s death but you sense that much of what he says is lies and half truths.

Eventually you call him on it and he takes a much different and sinister tone. He tells you of the day he went mad and speaks a few words of the Black Speech, the infernal tongue of devils. He learned these words when he happened upon a secret meeting on the shores of Lach Morlund. A score of dark clad figures chanting. Marcellus recognized two of them, his brother and Sir Almaric, reeve of Lach Morlund.

Finally, Marcellus remarks on how the creature that assaulted Maddias was interested in only one thing, the necklace that he wore. He says he will help you and tell you everything he knows if you help him escape.

You refuse but feed him a chicken, hoping that he will use the bones to pick the locks and free himself. Stitcher bids you farewell and says to come back again if you need work. He will have need of your talents again. You also learn that Sayden Fisk knows how to acquire devil’s weed, a rare plant that can grant you the ability to breath water.

You wait, hidden outside the Old Goat Tavern, covering the exits from nearby buildings. Cal recruits the street urchin woman he met that morning to watch one of the exits. Night drags on past midnight with no sign of Marcellus.

That is when you hear a terrible sound from the water. Alarm bells are sounding. Dockside is under attack!